Closing summary

Claire Phipps

Jo Cox, the 41-year-old Labour MP for Batley and Spen, was killed after being stabbed and shot in the street outside the library in Birstall, West Yorkshire, where she held her regular constituency surgery.

The referendum is a great exercise in democracy. But the campaign has been suspended, on both sides, out of respect for Jo and her family – and for that democracy that she served.

One of the virtues of our parliamentary democracy is the everyday accessibility of MPs to the people they represent. It’s what makes the way we govern ourselves very different from many others. We believe in freedom, liberty and justice … Today’s horrible events are an assault on all of these values.

Mitchell and Cox together set up the all-party parliamentary group on Syria, he writes:

At the time, her party leadership was against military intervention in Syria and mine was in favour, which meant the atmosphere around the issue was quite heated. But she was completely uninterested in any of that. She just wanted to do the right thing …

It’s hard to believe that someone so brave and fearless and fun is dead, but the hardest thing to think about is her two lovely little children. They would come in to Portcullis House for tea with their mum, and now she’s gone.

Both sides in the EU referendum will suspend campaigning on Friday as a mark of respect for Jo Cox.

Both sides have cancelled all events for Friday. Ukip will not go ahead with a planned poster launch, Economists for Brexit scrapped a press conference, and many Labour MPs are too shocked and grief-stricken to consider campaigning.

Some MPs have called for parliament to be recalled to allow colleagues to pay tribute to Cox in the House of Commons.

The Times newspaper reports that police were considering extra security for Jo Cox ahead of yesterday’s attack, after it says she “had been harassed in a stream of messages over three months”.

The Times says a man was cautioned over the messages and they are not believed to be connected to her death.

But Cox’s death will no doubt cast a spotlight on risks faced by MPs and what can be done to mitigate them. The BBC’s James Landale says:

There will inevitably be another debate about MPs’ security. Many are often subject to physical attack. But politics can’t happen from behind a ring of steel. Jo Cox’s death is not just an awful tragedy. It is also an assault on our democracy.

Global tributes

Press Association has rounded up some of the tributes from around the world to Jo Cox, the Labour MP who was murdered on Thursday.

Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, led the tributes saying she was horrified by the “assassination” and calling Cox a “rising star”. She referenced Cox’s maiden speech, which celebrated the diversity of her constituency. Clinton said:

It is cruel and terrible that her life was cut short by a violent act of political intolerance. It is critical that the United States and Britain, two of the world’s oldest and greatest democracies, stand together against hatred and violence.

This is how we must honour Jo Cox – by rejecting bigotry in all its forms, and instead embracing, as she always did, everything that binds us together.

Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau tweeted a message in French and English:

On behalf of our parliament and all Canadians, I offer my deepest condolences to the family and colleagues of British MP Jo Cox.

Ireland’s premier Enda Kenny announced that, in light of the suspension of campaigning by the Leave and Remain groups, he would not be speaking on the EU referendum as planned. He also tweeted:

What an appalling tragedy. Jo Cox, a mother doing her public duty, her life taken away. My deepest sympathies to her family.

The president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, offered his condolences after a visit to Finland. He said on Twitter:

Repelled by tragic attack on British MP Jo Cox. My thoughts are with her family and loved ones.

Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull said he was “deeply shocked”. He added on Twitter:

Our condolences, prayers and solidarity are with her family & the people of the UK.

Several MPs attended a service at St Peter’s church in Birstall on Thursday evening for Jo Cox. Labour MPs Yvette Cooper, Mary Creagh and Caroline Flint were among those gathered to remember their friend and colleague.